Road rage triggers Detroit freeway shooting

A driver on Interstate 96 was shot at Saturday night in Detroit in what police called a “road rage” incident. Investigators don’t believe it was connected to the four shootings on Dec. 7 on Interstate-94 that left one driver with a leg wound.(Photo: Detroit News file)

A driver on Interstate 96 who told police he was shot at while driving over the weekend is adding to the incidents of gunfire on Detroit freeways this month.

Early Sunday, Michigan State Police troopers shut down the freeway for about two hours as troopers on foot and with canines collected evidence. Detectives are investigating.

State Police Lt. Michael Shaw said the incident on east bound I-96, near Interstate 94 was triggered by road rage. Investigators don’t believe it was connected to the four freeway shootings on Dec. 7, including one on I-94 that left one driver with a leg wound.

Shaw said while Saturday’s incident is not cause for the public to be alarmed, troopers are seeing more incidents of road rage.

Troopers responded at 11:50 p.m. to MGM Casino garage where the driver, a man from Ypsilanti, told police that he may have accidentally cut another driver off while on I-96.

The man said the driver then tailgated him and that’s when the Ypsilanti man said he “may have let off the gas,” according to a news release from police. The tailgating vehicle then passed him and one shot was fired, somewhere between Warren Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

The suspect’s vehicle was light colored and had three occupants, police said.

There were no injuries and no bullet was found in the man’s car.

“This was a road rage incident between two parties where one fired a shot,” Shaw wrote in a text to The Detroit News. “I don’t think there is a reason to be concerned, however we are seeing more types of these incidents were drivers become mad at each other. A spot on the road isn’t worth dying over.”

“The Dec 7 incident was not road rage and there was no interaction between the suspect and the victims.”

Anyone with information about the shooting should contact the Metro South Post at (734) 287-5000.

Shaw said there was no update on the investigation into the Dec. 7 shootings and that detectives still are working the case.

Officials have said they believe four shootings on Detroit’s freeway system are linked to the same suspect or suspects. Police are looking for a gray or silver sedan in two of the three incidents.

Last week, a stretch of westbound I-94 between Conner and Gratiot was shut down to allow police to sweep for evidence before snow plow trucks were on the road.